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Advance Access - Version 4 vs Version 5
Oct 6, 2026, 11:55 PM
Converted to past tense, added how Advance Access ended, the Ludra removal, later gifts and the post-launch review rating
Oct 8, 2026, 10:38 PM
Added the October 7 account-wide Founder cosmetic claim implementation.
11Advance Access is the five-day head start on the global AION 2 servers for players who bought any tier of Founder's Pack. It opened on September 30, 2026 on Steam and PURPLE and ran until October 4, ahead of the free-to-play launch on October 5, 2026. NCsoft's notices call the same window both Advanced Access and Early Access. Pack tiers and prices are on Monetization and Memberships, and the wider launch calendar is on Global Launch and Platforms.22Schedule55PhasePacific TimeUTCPre-downloadFrom September 28, 6:00 AM PDTFrom September 28, 13:00Advance AccessSeptember 30, 6:00 AM PDT to October 4, 10:00 PM PDTSeptember 30, 13:00 to October 5, 05:00Maintenance before launchOctober 4, 10:00 PM PDT to October 5, 6:00 AM PDTOctober 5, 05:00 to 13:00Global launchOctober 5, 6:00 AM PDTOctober 5, 13:00Last chance to buy a Founder's PackOctober 5, 8:00 AM PDTOctober 5, 15:0077These are the times NCsoft published before the opening. The closing maintenance ran for eight hours from October 4 at 10:00 PM PDT, and the global launch went ahead on time on October 5 at 6:00 AM PDT.88Pre-Download and Decryption1010Pre-download opened on September 28, 2026. The downloaded files were encrypted, and the client decrypted them when Advance Access began. NCsoft said decryption is not a reinstallation and that its length depends on the PC's specifications, and that players who had not pre-downloaded would download the client at the start of Advance Access at whatever speed their connection allowed. The published storage requirement is 100 GB of free space; see System Requirements.1212Opening Day1414On the morning of September 30 NCsoft delayed the opening by 30 minutes, from 6:00 AM PDT (13:00 UTC) to 6:30 AM PDT (13:30 UTC). Client decryption started on schedule, but the servers stayed in maintenance. A second official post then gave 7:00 AM PDT as the opening time with no further delay and said an additional gift was being prepared for players; NCsoft later described it as 10 Resurrection Stones.1616Queues built on the original servers within hours. NCsoft responded by opening new server pairs through the day and asked players who were waiting in a queue, or joining late, to create characters on a recommended server.1818RegionElyos ServerAsmodian ServerAdded (September 30, PDT)EuropeYustielMarchutan7:40 AMEuropeArielAzphel8:20 AMEuropeFregionEreshkigal9:18 AMNA EastVaizelTriniel2:50 PMEuropeMeslamtaedaBeritra4:10 PMNA WestNezekanZikel5:08 PM2020The full lineup, including the servers that were open from the start, is on Servers and Regions.2121Maintenance and Fixes2323WhenWhat HappenedSeptember 30, 11:00 PM PDT (October 1, 08:00 CEST)Maintenance scheduled for an hour and a half on all services, with login unavailable. It addressed a bottleneck when interacting with objects in Hero Quests in Northern Tolbas Forest, Eastern Tolbas Forest and Altamia Highland for the Elyos, and in Basfelt Ruins, Purifying Forest, Fafnite Deposit and Impetusium Square for the Asmodians. NCsoft announced the servers were back online at 12:22 AM PDT on October 1 and said compensation would arrive by mail later that day.October 1, 4:32 AM PDTA fix with no downtime for players whose Early Access status was not recognised at login, and for problems with in-game purchases. It applies the next time the client is restarted. NCsoft said it was still investigating account-linking problems.2525Support answers for other launch problems, including the Steam account-linking error and payment verification failures, are collected on Known Issues.2626Gifts2828GiftContentsHow to Get ItThank-you couponOdyle Energy (Bound) x4, Resurrection Spiritstone (Bound) x5, Battle Enhance Scroll (Bound) x10Code TAKEFLIGHTAION2, one redemption per account, from October 1 after maintenance until October 13, 11:00 PM PDT (North America) or October 14, 08:00 CEST (Europe). See Coupon Codes.Appreciation giftBattle Enhancement Scroll (Engraved) x5In-game mail, claimable until the end of Advance AccessOpening delay gift10 Resurrection StonesAnnounced on September 30 for all playersMaintenance compensationNot itemised in the noticeIn-game mail on October 1Queue time compensationAppearance Change Voucher x1Announced during the opening days for the long queue timesViewer drops, War for Atreia channels (October 2 to 4)Appearance Change Voucher (Bound) x1 at 30 minutes, Soul Codex (Bound) x10 at 1 hour, Resurrection Spiritstone (Bound) x10 at 2 hours, Mysterious Pet Chest (Bound) x10 at 4 hoursWatching the participating War for Atreia creators' streams from October 2, 12:00 PM PDT to October 4, 11:59 PM PDT3030Reception3131On September 30 NCsoft said AION 2 was No. 1 on Steam's Global Top Sellers chart and No. 1 in several individual countries, including the United States, Germany, France and Brazil. Steam wishlists had passed 1.3 million before the opening, and the game reached a reported first-day peak of about 171,500 concurrent players on Steam, a count that leaves out PURPLE players.3333As of October 2, 2026 the Steam store rated user reviews Mostly Positive: about 77 percent of 3,639 reviews across all languages were positive, and 75 percent of 1,828 English-language reviews. The most-upvoted negative review at that point, and several others among the most helpful, objected to paid items, including Founder's Pack rewards and the Membership, being tied to one character or one server rather than to the whole account.3535By October 7, 2026, two days after the free-to-play launch, the rating had fallen to Mixed, with 8,571 of 13,053 reviews (about 66 percent) positive.3737What Carries Over3939Advance Access characters carry on after launch. The Advance Access servers stay open alongside the launch servers, and once transfers open on October 14, 2026 their characters can move only to other Advance Access servers, not to the launch servers.Founder's Pack items that are not claimed during Advance Access can still be claimed afterwards on any server through a dedicated claim button.Progress from the Korean or Taiwanese service does not carry over to the global version.4141How Advance Access Ended4343Advance Access closed on October 4 at 10:00 PM PDT. Two changes came out of it. On October 3 NCsoft promised that Founder's Pack cosmetics would become usable on every character of the account, on any server, a change it said would be finished after Advance Access; see Founder's Packs. On October 5 it removed Sanctuary Raid: Ludra from the launch build because players had cleared it during Advance Access at a lower level of progression than intended. Ludra gear won during Advance Access was taken out with the raid and is to be returned, with upgrade materials refunded, when a reworked Ludra comes back, and every Advance Access player who cleared Ludra in the Europe region receives a commemorative title. See Abyssal Forge: Ludra.4545Known issues NCsoft listed during the window included the title Vanguard of Atreia showing as Shaper of Heavens in the English title menu, Duty content staying locked until the next day for players who opened the Duty tab before level 45, and chat messages failing with a Please Try Again Later message. The first two were scheduled for the launch maintenance; see Known Issues.4747Events4949The Transcendence Dungeon Leaderboard started on the Advance Access servers on September 30, five days before it opened on the launch servers, and the War for Atreia creator event began the same day. Viewer rewards for watching AION 2 livestreams ran for the whole Advance Access window. See Launch Events.51+Account-Wide Cosmetic Claims After Launch53+The October 6 PDT / October 7 CEST patch implemented that cosmetic entitlement through a dedicated free section in the Shop. Eligible buyers can claim the covered skins and titles on every character and server until a closure announcement; an already-owned item cannot be bought again. Duplicate skins do not consume the paid skin limit. Duplicate inventory-item disposal and removal of duplicate skin-list entries remain planned. If a Founder purchase fails, close the game client and try again. See Founder's Packs for the tier entitlements and one-time reward exceptions.
